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Non-Tech : BANK BOSTON (BKB) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Eliz2 who wrote (8)9/28/1998 7:27:00 AM
From: Ganesh  Respond to of 13
 
Bank of Boston is exposed to the tune of $ 25 million to LTCM.
Also, their 3rd Q trading losses on Latin American and corporate trading was 50% higher than expected.



To: Eliz2 who wrote (8)3/14/1999 11:26:00 PM
From: Brian Malloy  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 13
 
Hope you held onto the BKB. We should probably get a good pop from $47 on Friday and open around $51.50 on Monday. I'll probably be closing out my last shares then.

Sunday March 14, 10:38 pm Eastern Time
BankBoston, Fleet to merge in $16 billion stock deal
(Recasts, adds details on merger, CFO's comments, banking industry background, banks' stock closing prices)

By Elizabeth Smith

BOSTON, March 14 (Reuters) - BankBoston Corp (NYSE:BKB - news) and Fleet Financial Group (NYSE:FLT - news) said on Sunday they would merge in a $16 billion stock deal that would make them better able to compete in an ever shrinking orbit of big U.S. banks.

The deal, which would form the nation's eighth largest bank, is the latest since a wave of blockbuster bank mergers rocked the U.S. financial sector last year.

Under terms of the deal, BankBoston shareholders would receive 1.1844 shares of Fleet for each BankBoston share they own. That calculation is based on the closing prices of both banks' stocks on Friday, and it values BankBoston's stock at $53 a share. BankBoston closed Friday at $47 a share and Fleet, at $44.81.

''This transaction is driven by and meets our strategic objectives of achieving the requisite size and scope to compete effectively in our industry, while improving and diversifying the range of business lines we have to serve our customers,'' Fleet's Chairman and Chief Executive Terrence Murray said.

BankBoston's chairman and chief executive Chad Gifford said BankBoston, which he called the oldest U.S. commercial bank, decided to join with Fleet to become a Boston-based financial services powerhouse and global leader in the new millennium.

To clear any regulatory hurdles, Fleet and Bank Boston said they would sell some $13 billion in deposits to other banks.

''We have already had talks with the Justice Department, and we will divest about $13 billion in deposits,'' BankBoston's Chief Financial Officer Susannah Swihart told Reuters in an interview about an hour after the deal was announced.

Gene McQuade, Fleet's chief financial officer, said the sale of the $13 billion in deposits to other banks would help preserve jobs because it would lessen the need for the newly merged bank to make widespread layoffs.

The newly merged company -- to be known as Fleet Boston Corp. -- will have combined assets of $180 billion and 20 million customers.

Fleet Boston Corp. would also become the No. 3 U.S. commercial lender with a strong presence in debt and equity underwriting, cash management and foreign trade services, the banks said.

Last year, several leading U.S. banks forged mega-mergers in the face of industry overcapacity, hoping they could cut costs, expand revenues, assets and geographic reach as well as tap new distribution channels, industry analysts said.

Citicorp and Travelers Group Inc. in April, 1998, struck one of the biggest corporate merger deals in history, worth more than $70 billion, to form Citigroup. Soon after, BankAmerica Corp. merged with NationsBank Corp in a deal worth about $60 billion, and First Chicago NBD Corp. set a $30 billion pact with BancOne Corp.

The BankBoston-Fleet deal, which will be accounted for as a pooling of interests, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, assuming it secures approval from regulators. Once the deal is closed, Fleet would own 62 percent of the combined company and BankBoston, 38 percent.

The banks said the merger would boost earnings in the first year after the deal is closed. The boards of both banks have approved the merger proposal.

Fleet's Murray will become chairman and chief executive of Fleet Boston Corp., while Gifford will be named president and chief operating officer. Gifford will then succeed Murray as CEO at the end of 2001 and, as chairman, a year later.

Fleet's president and chief operating officer Robert Higgins and BankBoston's president and chief operating officer Henrique Meirelles will co-manage the newly merged company's businesses.